Sighting device for bowlers



April 17, 1962 L. o. FREY 3,029,517

SIGHTING DEVICE FOR BOWLERS Filed July 22, 1960 Louis 0. Frey INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,029,517 SIGHTBNG DEVICE FOR BOWLERS Louis 0.Frey, Pleasant Valley Road, Mendham, NJ. Filed July 22, 1960, Ser. No.44,678 6 Claims. (Cl. 33-64) The present invention generally relates toa device for use by persons engaged in bowling and more particularly isa sighting device for use by bowlers for aiding them in properlydirecting the ball towards the pins.

In spot bowling, the bowler normally will aim at a particular spot in aspaced relation to the foul line which is usually in an area of thealley which is just previous to the point at which the ball begins tocurve towards the pin, pins or pocket which the bowler desires to engageby the ball. By practicing the delivery of the ball and making eachdelivery substantially identical, a bowler can establish a particularspot in the alley over which the ball should pass in order that the ballwill hit or engage a particular pin, pins or pocket.

Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide asighting device for bowlers which includes a pair of adjustable pointsmounted in such a manner that they will be disposed forwardly of theeyes of the bowler so that one pointer may be aligned with the pin orpocket desired to be engaged by the ball and the other pointer may bealigned with a spot on the bowling alley, the pointers being adjustablein relation to each other so that they may be properly adjusted toindicate to the bowler the spot over which the ball is to be rolled inorder for the ball to follow a desired path and engage a desired pin,pins or pocket between pins.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sighting devicefor bowlers which is quite simple in constructiomeasy to use, effectivefor its particular purposes and generally inexpensive to manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view illustrating the sighting device of thepresent invention in use;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view of the sighting device with portionsthereof broken away illustrating the mannet of the attachment of thestrap to the sighting device; and

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the invention with portionsthereof broken away illustrating further structural details thereof.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral generallydesignates the sighting device for bowlers of the present inventionwhich is illustrated in use by a bowler 12 with the bowling ball 14already being released and proceeding down the bowling alley 16 towardsthe bowling pins 18. The bowler 12 has stopped his forward progressrearwardly of the foul line 20 in the usual manner.

The sighting device it) includes an elongated supporting arm 22 havingan arcuate mounting plate 24 at one end thereof which is adapted toengage the forehead of the bowler 12. The arcuate plate 24 is providedwith end slots 26 receiving the ends of a flexible resilient head strap28 adapted to encircle the head 30 of the bowler 12. The ends of thehead strap 23 are secured by any suitable manner such as by stitching,riveting, snap fastener elements or the like whereby the elastic strap23 is secured to the plate 24 for mounting the arm 22 in forwardlyextending relation to the forehead as illustrated in FIG- URE 1.

The outer end of the arm 22 is provided with a generally cylindricalenlargement 32 having a vertically disposed frusto-conicalor taperedbore 34 extending therethrough for adjustably and rotatably receiving afrustoconical mounting member or plug 36 having a peripheral flange 38at the upper end thereof forming a handle or finger grip for the member36. Depending from the bottom edge of the frusto conical member 36 is apair of pins 40 and 42. The pin 40 is elongated and the pin 42 isrelatively short and the pins 40 and 42 actually form pointers foralignment with the bowling pins 18 and a spot on the bowling alley 16 ina manner described hereinafter. The construction of the arm and theconstruction of the plate as well as the member 32 and the member 36 maybe of suitable material such as plastic or the like and due to thefrusto-conical construction of the member 36 and the bore 34, thepointers 40 and 42 may be adjusted in relation to the line of vision ofthe bowler and retained in position by merely forcing the frustoconicalmember 36 downwardly into the bore 34 thus frictionally locking thepointers in position.

In using the device, it is placed on the head in the manner asillustrated in FIGURE 1 and the bowler 12 lines the short pointer 42 upwith the pocket, pin or pins which the bowler wishes to hit. When thesight is lined up in this manner, the bowler moves his eye only andlocates the spot directly beneath the long pointer 46 and this is thespot over which he must roll the ball. The spot is usually 10 to 14 feetfrom the foul line or at a point before the ball starts to break orcurve and the points are adjustable to enable the bowler to compensatefor the amount of hook or curve which he has on the ball when it isrolled. By using the sighting device several times, the bowler observeswhere the ball hits, that is, whether to the right or left of the pinthrown at and then readjusts the sight accordingly so that after severalthrows, the bowler will have a positive means of locating a spot on thebowling alley over which the ball should pass. When the sighting deviceis properly adjusted, it will locate the spot the player must roll theball over for any pin, split or group of pins on the alley.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired tolimit theinvention to the exact construction and operation shown and described,and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may beresorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A sighting device for bowlers comprising an elongated arm, means atone end of said arm for attachment thereof to a bowlers head with thearm extending forwardly therefrom, a pair of spaced vertical pointersmounted on and depending from the outer end of the arm generallyforwardly of the eyes whereby a bowler may align one pointer with abowling pin to be hit by the ball and the other pointer will indicatethe spot over which the bowling ball should be rolled, one of saidpointers being longer than the other.

2. A sighting device for bowlers comprising an elongated arm, means atone end of said arm for attachment thereof to a bowlers head with thearm extending forwardly therefrom, a pair of spaced vertical pointersmounted on and depending from the outer end of the arm generallyforwardly of the eyes whereby a bowler may align one pointer with abowling pin to be hit by the ball and the other pointer will indicatethe spot over which the bowling ball should be rolled, said means forattachment to a bowlers head including an arcuate plate adapted toengage the forehead of a bowler and a resilient strap attached at itsends to said plate for encircling the head and retaining the plate andarm in position on the head with the arm generally extending forwardlyabove the eyes, said arm being provided with a vertically disposedtapered bore in the outer end thereof, and a frusto'conical mountingmember adjustably mounted in said bore, said pointers depending from thelower end of said mounting member.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein one of said pointers is shorterthan the other of said pointers, the short pointer being adapted to bealigned with the desired pin, pins or pocket to be engaged by the balland the other pointer being adapted to indicate the spot on the alleyover which the ball should be rolled.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein the frustoconical mounting memberand the bore are provided with complementary tapering surfaces forfrictional engagement thereof When downward pressure is exerted on themounting member, said mounting member including a peripheral flange atthe upper end thereof for providing a finger piece for lifting androtating the mounting member for adjusting the orientation of thepointers so that the point indicated on the alley may be varied for theindividual bowler depending upon the characteristics of the path of theball when rolled by the particular bowler thereby enabling the spot onthe alley to be varied.

5. A sighting device comprising an elongated arm, pointer means attachedto said arm, and means on said 5 arm remote from the pointer means forattachment of the device to the head of a bowler, said pointer meansincluding a pair of pointers mounted generally forwardly of the eyes,one of said pointers being shorter than the other. 10 6. The structureas defined in claim 5 wherein fricr tional lock means interconnects thepointers and the arm for locking the pointers in adjusted position.

References Cited in the file of this patent

